INDIA: Awaiting Pakistan’s Official Response to Mumbai Attacks

Five weeks after India handed over a dossier to Islamabad containing detailed evidence on the Nov. 26-29 Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan has finally promised an official response, based on investigations by its Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

PAKISTAN: Opening the A. Q. Khan Can of Worms

The release of Pakistani rogue nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, underlines major issues confronting Pakistan -and indeed the world - ranging from nuclear proliferation to governance, corruption, hypocrisy, and how public opinion is shaped by falsehoods.

PAKISTAN: Bracing For More Drone Attacks

On Jan 23, days after Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States, a series of missiles slammed into Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border - in continuation of Washington’s policy of targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban elements regardless of sovereignty issues.

Q&A: ‘Internet Should Not Build Firewalls of Hate’

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, one of the world's leading human rights activists, is often heard on the subject of hate. He is an international authority on issues related to digital hate over the Internet.

THAILAND: Malay-Muslims Complain in Court of Torture

A year after they were allegedly subjected to torture by the Thai army, two young men from the country’s troubled southern provinces have done what no other victim of similar abuse in the area has dared to do - go to court.

CHINA: Striking Hard in Tibet 50 Years After The Uprising

China is preparing for the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising - which saw the Himalayan territory’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, flee into exile - with a 'strike hard' campaign and propaganda on the evils of feudal oppression in pre-1949 Tibet.

POLITICS-US: Republican Benefactor Launches Comeback

While the alleged Ponzi scheme of New York investment manager Bernie Madoff has claimed significant chunks of the fortunes of a number of well-known charities, celebrities and not-so familiar millionaires, over the years another outfit appears to have left a trail of a different sort - the broken dreams of thousands of wannabe entrepreneurs who were left with garages full of dust-gathering products, motivational tapes and how-to-get-rich-quick books.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: By-Poll Debacle May Hit Reforms

A key parliamentary by-election on Saturday that fell to a resurgent opposition alliance has piled pressure on Malaysia's prime minister-to-be, Najib Razak.

THAILAND: Burmese Refugees Set Adrift, Hundreds Feared Dead

Hundreds of Rohingya (Burmese Muslim) refugees are feared dead after being pushed back into the sea by Thai authorities, according to human rights activists based in Thailand.

MIDEAST: U.S. Jewish Peace Lobby Isolated on Gaza

The three-week-old war in Gaza - halted Saturday by an Israeli ceasefire - has had a polarising effect on the U.S. Jewish community, resulting in a deeper and at times acrimonious split between dovish groups that are sceptical of the Israeli military campaign, and centrist and hawkish groups that have been broadly supportive of it.

BOLIVIA: Christian Groups Stir Up Debate over New Constitution

"Did you know they want to throw God out of Bolivia?" asks a television spot frequently broadcast by opponents of leftwing Bolivian President Evo Morales ahead of the Jan. 25 referendum on constitutional reform.

MALAYSIA: By-Poll Will Test Political Drift

Following the political tsunami in March, which propelled a disparate opposition alliance to power in five of 13 Malaysian states, voters in the capital of oil-rich Terengganu state will determine Saturday if an 'east coast monsoon' will drive the alliance closer to national power.

RELIGION: Catholic Church Family Meet Slams Door on Diversity

The social diversity and broad range of thinking among Catholics is conspicuously absent from the Sixth World Meeting of Families taking place in the Mexican capital this week, say observers.

CULTURE-PAKISTAN: Artistes Caught in Crossfire

Arson attacks and killings have shut down girls’ schools and brought a thriving entertainment industry to its knees in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

MIDEAST: Malaysia Exercised Over Gaza

As an economically advanced country that seeks a key role in the Muslim world, it is perhaps natural that Malaysia and its people are exercised over Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: By-Election Test For Ruling Coalition

Prime Minister-designate Najib Razak, who succeeds Abdullah Badawi in March, faces a by-election that will test whether voters, especially majority Malays, still support the 13-party coalition government which suffered massive setbacks in general elections last year.

BRAZIL: Afro-Brazilian Religions Battle New Threats

Millions of Brazilians usher in the new year by wading into the sea, dressed in white, scattering flowers on the water as an offering to the Afro-Brazilian deity Iemanjá, in return for her blessings for the year to come. But few of them realise that this tradition is rooted in a religion fighting for survival in the face of prejudice, racism and intolerance.

HEALTH-MALAYSIA: Divided Over HIV Testing

A raging debate over mandatory HIV screening has exposed fear and ignorance within government, despite years of awareness campaigns to eradicate prejudice against people living with the virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

MEXICO: Gays Defend Their Right to Be Catholic

Social activists and members of "unusual couples," as the Catholic Church calls gay, lesbian and transsexual unions, are discussing possible actions to be taken on Jan. 13-18, 2009 when Mexico hosts the Sixth World Meeting of Families organised by the Vatican.

LEBANON: Christians Step Uneasily Closer to Syria

Christian Lebanese have been long-time foes of the Syrian regime, and their history is tainted with blood, mistrust and assassinations. This month, one of Lebanon's' leading Christian leaders, Gen. Michel Aoun, visited Syria, ending years of dissension between his party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

ECONOMY: Today, Santa Is the Saviour

This time, more than in years before, Christmas is so much more about Santa Claus than about Jesus Christ. Santa has after all, the power to move markets in ways that poor Jesus never contemplated.